Guardian Writer Dave Hill On Politics, People & Goings On

July 2008

July 31, 2008

Hmmm. It doesn't look updated to me. It's not even a different kind of "none".

UPDATE, 20.48: Thank you, reader Rob! It's on the Register page but there's no link there from the Deputies page. Tomorrow maybe? Here's the interesting stuff:

"I have an indirect interest in one Freehold Property in the Authorities area through my investment in the Mountgrange Real Estate Opportunity Fund L.P, a private equity real estate vehicle. My interest in the fund is currently 0.52%, the fund operates on a discretionary basis over which I have no control. My current interest is £67,594. Further details can be obtained from:

"Do Hackney's Tory Councillors, eight out of nine of whom are from minority faith and ethnic communities, know about the views of their London Mayor's Policy Director about the model of community harmony represented by our borough? The appointment of someone who has such a disparaging take on the benefits of immigration and multiculturalism to the position of Policy Director to the Mayor of a city that has benefited from and been characterised by mass immigration and multiculturalism is a very odd move and will add to the unease London's BME communities already feel about Boris."

"London 2016: thousands of young East Enders return to their dream homes every day after work on the zippiest public transport links in the UK. Throwing open their balcony doors to view Europe's largest urban park, lined with oak, willow and birch trees, they may opt for an evening stroll along the green banks of the rejuvenated River Lea - unrecognisable from the waterway polluted from a century of heavy industry and neglect - before stopping at a wine bar for a glass of zesty riesling.

Or they could decide to take their children for a dip at the Olympic aquatics centre, Zaha Hadid's £303million architectural showpiece, with its wavy roof, that inspired a new generation of British swimmers. It would have been the youngsters' second brush of the day with a legacy of 2012, after a lunchtime athletics coaching session in the Olympic stadium organised by their school in Hackney."

"David Mackay, the architect and a key figure in the success of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, widely touted as the 'model Games', believes that London has already left it too late. With better planning, he told The Times, they could have built a water park in East London, just as Barcelona built a seaside to transform the rundown Catalan capital into a European super-city.

London could yet steal many of the regeneration concepts advanced by the 1992 Olympics planners. The comparisons are irresistible. Like Barcelona, where the east was traditionally home to the poorer sections of society, London's wealth is weighted heavily to the west. Staging the Olympics offers the chance to spread it more evenly. The trick will be to avoid that equating to a house price rise that causes the locals to ship out, as happened during the gentrification of Barcelona.

It must surely be the aim to encourage those people to stay and live in a better place where there are jobs, prospects and the best sports facilities in the country - if that does not sound too fantastical."

He'll be your host on LBC from 10.00 until 2.00 every Saturday from 30th August. Meanwhile, just heard on Five Live, he told the presenter to "ask me again in 2011" about whether or not he'll run in 2012. Well, that's a bit of a row-back! And won't Labour have already picked their candidate by then?

“The reason the Metropolitan Police commissioner is appointed by the Home Secretary is because I have national and international responsibilities, including being the lead for counter-terrorism. There is not a single plot in the last five years that hasn't originated in or gone through London. It would be a poor bargain to argue that the Met should lose national and international responsibilities so the mayor can have a firmer hold over a situation which he already has power in. Most senior police officers are concerned that the office of commissioner has become a matter of high politics.”

In which he summarises his ambitions as a "fairer, greener and safer London” and hints at a new task for the LDA:

"[It] could also look at the early stages with children. The most important skills are reading and writing. The mayor can really organise that...I think the motto for the LDA should be ‘homes, jobs and skills for London.'”

July 30, 2008

"It seems fairly clear to me that someone close to Boris has leaked these emails. Three very good reasons for doing so: 1) Puts Sir Ian Blair on his toes and gives him a very good reason to want to get in Boris' good books; 2) Highlights the fact that the Mayor is unable to suspend the Met Commissioner, and therefore stops him being accused of failing to do so; 3) Allies the Boris administration clearly with the anti-Sir Ian Blair camp, which looks like gaining political traction."